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The wonders of a private jet.

[She will just let herself in, thank you, and will take him in, almost as though she's looking for injuries she wouldn't be able to see. After getting mistletoe poisoning, you learn to look for different signs and symptoms.]

How are you feeling?

Uncharacteristically tired.

( He uses the strength he has to sit up. He doesn't like it. That's made clear. )

Rescued by vampires. That's new.

The ones in New Orleans aren't bad.

[Which basically amounts to Josh and Marcel, as she hasn't spent time with many others.

It mostly amounts to she likes Josh. Whether that's because she likes Aiden and Aiden likes Josh, or the fact that Josh is forgiving when Cora pulled Aiden out of bed in the middle of the night to get a ride back to the French Quarter remains to be seen.]

The ones here are questionable.

[They only get so much credit for rescuing Derek instead of leaving him to die.]

Did you know there's a hunter in transition in this house?

I'll take your word for it.

( Not that he's against Hayley, Klaus, Damon, or Stefan. He just hasn't personally thanked them. )

I know Stiles is in transition. Why are there two in-progress vampires.

I don't know. Something about a double-agent plan, but we were getting it second hand from Sam Winchester. Allison didn't seem happy.

[But Allison has to run all of this, so Cora doesn't blame her for being upset that Damon called that kind of audible.]

She doesn't like things half-assed.

( There are only so many times things that are unanticipated happen, including a lengthy hospital stay when she was run through with the wrong side of an Oni's blade. )

We should find a witch. One we trust. I need to know what was done.

There are some here. I think Jackson used a witch to find you.

[Does that make him trustworthy? She doesn't know.]

Otherwise, Allison seems to be getting chummy with Freya Mikaelson. I don't know if she's trustworthy, but she's certainly powerful.

We may need to move beyond trustworthy and accept, trustworthy for now. The playing field is getting more complicated.

( In more ways than one. )

[Cora weighs her options.]

I don't know anything about Jackson's witch, but Freya is old. She knows way more about magic than any other witch I've seen so far. I would take efficiency over a second opinion.

[At the same time, though -]

But someone who can heal should also probably stay here with Stiles.

[Cora may have come to see her brother, but listening to Scott and Allison discuss it had had her thinking that for her, this might be a one-way trip.]

And I haven't looped in Scott and Allison in on what's going on with you yet.

Thank you. Don't, until we know. Let's get Freya on the phone, then. See what she says. We'll go from there.

( Thoroughness over efficiency seems the way to go. )

[Cora nods, sitting on the edge of the bed as she pulls out her phone. After a couple quick texts, she gets Freya's number from Aiden and sets the phone on speaker as it rings.

"Hello?"]

Hi, Freya. It's Cora Hale. We think the witch here might have cast something on my brother.

["There have been rumors of them having witches on their payroll. What can you tell me about the spell?"]

She did it alone. She burned my wrists and forehead. The burns have since healed. She spoke a variation on Latin, but not one I've heard before. She invoked Hecaté.

It involved holding a stone over a fire she conjured.

( That's... all he remembers. )

I don't remember anything else. I blacked out after that.

That sounds like a binding ritual. And a nasty one. Likely designed to keep you complacent and controllable.

[There's the sound papers turning, as she shuffles through grimoires, but there's not a lot she can do from here.]

I'll have to see you in person to assess the full damage.

Damage.

( What is he, a car? )

I can drive out in few days. I need to check in with my Alpha. ( And they need to get to the hospital. ) Killing the witch didn't reverse it?

Binding rituals aren't those kinds of spells. They're intended to last forever, depending on the immortality of their target.

[Esther's binding ritual lasted a thousand years, after all.]

But they are reversible. I'll work on tracking down the exact spell she used, so hopefully fixing it will be quick and painless.

I'm not immortal.

( But, he could live over a hundred years, if he takes care of himself. )

But, thank you. The stone - it was white. Translucent. I could almost see through it.

A moonstone.

[That certainly narrows things down.]

Any chance you happened to recover it?

Unless it's fireproof.

( He doesn't want to think about the torching of the warehouse. It is slightly triggering. He implies enough, doesn't he? )

A spell totem already bound to a spell wouldn't burn.

[So it's probably fine in the charred remains of wherever Derek was being held.]

I'm going to need it. If that's what she used to bind the ritual, then I won't be able to break it without it.

( He looks at Cora. )

Everyone is busy today at graduation. We'll get it ourselves. Maybe we can take Jackson.

["We'll figure it out." She doesn't know where they're going, but they'll make it work.]

Good. And text me anything else you might remember as you go. It will help me narrow things down.

( They used a witch to find him once. Maybe they can do it again. )

If I remember anything, I will.

Sage was burning.

[Sage? A privacy spell most likely, but she'll keep a note of it.]

Okay. I'll start looking.

[A pause.]

And assuming that since it isn't Allison calling me, I should keep it off Allison's plate for now?

Go through me. Please.

Will do. I'll keep you in the loop with what I find.

[And with that, she hangs up.

Cora looks up at her brother, raising an eyebrow curiously. "So what now?"

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